January 26, 2011

The FDA believes there may be an association between saline and silicone gel-filled breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL.) The possible association between the breast implants and ALCL, a very rare form of cancer, was announced by the FDA today. After becoming aware of about 60 cases of ALCL in women with breast implants worldwide, the FDA is asking those who work in health care to report confirmed cases of ALCL in women with breast implants. Since ALCL has only occurred in a small number of the millions of women with breast implants, the FDA isn't recommending that women with the implants change their their routine medical care. Women who notice breast changes or develop pain, lumps, asymmetry or swelling after the surgical site has healed should seek medical care.

With the growing popularity of 3-D movies, it was only a matter of time before designer 3-D glasses showed up. Starting next month and into the spring, 3-D fans will be able to find some not-so-boxy 3-D glasses with big names attached. Calvin Klein and Nautica have both announced their new lines of 3-D glasses, says CNN. The 3-D glasses will cost between $70 and $180. In addition to adding a bit of glamour to movie-watching time, the 3-D glasses may be used with TVs and laptops featuring polarized 3-D screens, or as normal sunglasses. However, CNN notes that many 3-D TVs utilize "active-shutter" technology, which isn't compatible with the polarized glasses.

One reason people may pack on more pounds in the winter is that their houses are too hot! We burn fewer calories when our bodies don't have to work as hard to stay warm, suggest researchers reporting in Obesity Reviews. Plus, previous research has shown that slightly colder temps may lead to increased energy expenditures. Researchers from University College in London suspect that rising indoor temperatures in the U.S. and UK could be partially to blame for the obesity epidemic, reports CNN. They tracked indoor air temperatures of bedrooms during the last several decades. In the late 1980s in America, bedrooms were heated to an average of 66.7 degrees instead of an average 68.4 degrees in 2005. British bedrooms were heated to only 59.4 degrees in 1978, followed by 65.3 degrees in 1996.

While a third of doctors in the U.S. are over age 65, there's no real safety measure in place to ensure that elderly physicians are still mentally and physically competent enough to practice. New York Times reports that some experts are calling for routine cognitive and physical screening once doctors reach age 65. Some hospitals have already instituted screening for physicians of advanced age. Allowing “grandfather” clauses that enable older physicians to skip renewing their certification is another area for concern. According to New York Times, a 2006 study revealed that mortality rates in complicated operations were higher if the surgeon was age 60 or older. However, no difference in patient mortality was found for routine operations.

It would be difficult to drink enough coffee to die of caffeine overdose, but combining energy drinks and other medications or herbal substances that contain caffeine can be much more dangerous. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, caffeine side effects include fast heart rate, depression, nausea, excessive urination, vomiting, restlessness, anxiety, tremors and difficulty sleeping. Yet, it might take as many as 42 eight-ounce cups of coffee at one sitting to cause death by caffeine, says New York Times. The fatal oral dose of caffeine is 5 to 10 grams. Most cups of coffee contain only 60 to 120 milligrams of caffeine. However, 4,183 cases of caffeine overdose with one death were reported by the American Association of Poison Control Centers in 2007.

The risk of depression is increased by consuming trans-fats and saturated fats, but polyunsaturated fats and olive oil lower the risk of depression, find researchers. Study participants with an elevated consumption of trans-fats had up to a 48 percent increase in risk of depression compared with participants who didn't consume the unhealthy fats. The six-year study, conducted by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Navarr, was published in PLoS ONE. The research involved 12,059 volunteers, all free of depression at the start of the study. By the end of the study, 657 new cases of depression had been reported.

The Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee has been ranked as the filthiest hotel in America according to the travel review site TripAdvisor. On the website, over 70 percent of reviewers graded the hotel as “terrible” with another 6 percent calling it “average.” Some of the consumer reviews detailed such horrible conditions as greasy carpeting, dingy bedsheets, and rooms with off smells. Nicky Chaney, hotel President and CEO, is taking the problems seriously and has taken measures to correct issues in management, housekeeping and maintenance. Other hotels on the “Dirtiest” list include the Jack London Inn in Oakland California, Desert Inn Resort in Daytona Beach, and the Hotel Carter in New York City.

Seeing someone else light up seems to provoke a physical response in smokers, but it is unknown if this might be a reason why some relapse when trying to quit. A new study from Dartmouth College finds that watching an actor smoke in a movie activates areas of a smoker’s brain that are known to interpret and plan hand movements. The researchers say that these movements mimic the motions of lighting a cigarette. The study involved 17 smokers and 17 nonsmokers who watched a portion of a movie with smoking scenes while undergoing a functional MRI. When watching an actor light up, smokers exhibited more activity in a certain brain area involved in perception and coordination. This activity corresponded to the hand they typically used to smoke.

The declining of sea ice in the Arctic has many implications, but the most recent research published in the journal Nature Geoscience finds that this decrease may also affect Arctic sea life, including some of the fish we eat. The Arctic is particularly vulnerable to the impact of mercury emissions from industrial activities because oxidized mercury can deposit easily on snow and ice. When the ice melts, anaerobic organisms in the water convert this to methylmercury which then accumulates in the fatty tissues of cold water fish. Overconsumption of this compound can cause central nervous system damage, particularly in unborn babies and young infants. For this reason, pregnant women and children are discouraged from eating certain fish including swordfish, king mackerel, and shark.

Researchers in Japan and Korea have developed a gene that turns on in the when human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects a CD4 T-cells and actually destroys the virus’ gene transcripts so it cannot make its protein. CD4 T-cells are the cells HIV targets. Once it infects them, the uses the cell’s machinery to replicate itself, destroys the cell in the process and the newly made proteins infect other T-cells. This study has successfully demonstrated the concept in which genes are expressed inside cells with the goal of prevent viral infecting, known as “intracellular immunization.”